Apparatus for making fine ice with salinity

ABSTRACT

A device for making fine ice with salinity comprises: a water supply unit configured to supply a salt-containing fluid; an air supply unit including a spray nozzle configured to spray the fluid supplied from the water supply unit; and an ice-making unit configured to refrigerate the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle and make salt-containing fine ice, wherein the ice-making unit includes: an ice-making chamber whose inner wall to be in contact with the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle is configured to be refrigerated; and a scraper configured to scrape ice made on the inner wall of the ice-making chamber. By this device, fine ice with salinity can be efficiently generated.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for making ice that contains salt and has very small size.

BACKGROUND

In general, ice used for pre-chilling in fishing vessels and refrigeration industrial field may be classified into ice made of 100% pure water and ice made of 100% seawater.

Particularly, if ice made of 100% pure water is used for pre-chilling seafood caught by a fishing vessel, it can maintain the freshness of the seafood well but is less effective in pre-chilling due to its freezing point of 0° C. In contrast, ice made of 100% seawater has a freezing point of about −21.5° C. and thus is effective in pre-chilling. However, in this case, the seafood may lose its freshness due to osmotic effect and a complicated apparatus is needed to make such ice.

Meanwhile, ice cubes, crushed ice or sherbet-like ice conventionally used for refrigerating seafood contains a large amount of water and the water may become a cause of accelerating swelling and deterioration, i.e., decay, of seafood. Further, large-size ice cubes cannot be brought into uniform contact with the seafood skin, which causes non-uniform temperature distribution in the seafood and damage to the seafood skin in contact with ice.

In this regard, an artificial snow making device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,412 B1 can be considered in order to substitute for ice cubes or sherbet-like ice. However, the use of the artificial snow making device is limited to replenish snow in ski resorts for leisure, and the artificial snow making device cannot control the size or quality of snow and the snow does not contain salt.

Further, Korean Patent No. 10-0498735 discloses a seawater ice manufacturing apparatus. However, this apparatus is configured to instantaneously manufacture ice and crush the ice but cannot manufacture low-salinity ice since the concentration of salt is maintained.

Meanwhile, small and medium fishing vessels without an ice-making device have used ice previously replenished from land and stored in a fish hold or pre-chilling ice supplied from an ice supply vessel at sea. However, the supply of ice from the outside of a vessel costs a lot of money and makes it difficult to maintain the freshness of seafood for sufficient time.

Accordingly, there has been a demand for an ice-making device which can make ice suitable for pre-chilling seafood and has a structure suitable to be loaded on a small and medium fishing vessel.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing, the present disclosure provides a device for making fine ice with salinity by refrigerating a wall surface to be in contact with a salt-containing fluid and scraping ice made on the wall surface.

Also, the present disclosure provides a device for making fine ice with salinity which is configured to sequentially perform supplying a salt-containing fluid and making and collecting fine ice.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a device for making fine ice with salinity comprises: a water supply unit configured to supply a salt-containing fluid; an air supply unit including a spray nozzle configured to spray the fluid supplied from the water supply unit; and an ice-making unit configured to refrigerate the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle and make salt-containing fine ice, wherein the ice-making unit includes: an ice-making chamber whose inner wall to be in contact with the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle is configured to be refrigerated; and a scraper configured to scrape ice made on the inner wall of the ice-making chamber.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a device for making fine ice with salinity comprises: a water supply unit configured to supply a salt-containing fluid; an air supply unit including a spray nozzle configured to spray the fluid supplied from the water supply unit; and an ice-making unit configured to refrigerate the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle and make salt-containing fine ice, wherein the ice-making unit includes: an ice-making chamber whose inner wall to be in contact with the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle is configured to be refrigerated; a scraper configured to scrape ice made on the inner wall of the ice-making chamber; and an ice storage chamber that communicates with the ice-making chamber to accommodate ice separated from the inner wall of the ice-making chamber by the scraper.

The air supply unit further includes: a circulation air flow path whose both ends communicate with the ice storage chamber and the ice-making chamber, respectively; and an air blower that is provided in the circulation air flow path and driven to form an air flow from the air storage chamber toward the ice-making chamber in the circulation air flow path.

The air supply unit further includes: a compressed air flow path whose both ends communicate with the ice storage chamber and the spray nozzle, respectively; and an air compressor provided in the compressed air flow path and driven to collect air from the ice storage chamber and compress the air and then discharge the compressed air toward the spray nozzle.

According to the present disclosure, there are following effects.

In the device for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure, fine ice is made and collected by an ice-making chamber whose inner wall is configured to be refrigerated and a scraper configured to scrape ice from the inner wall. In this structure, fine ice containing salt and having uniform size can be made, and, thus, when it is used for storage of seafood, it is possible to suppress physical damage and decay of the seafood. Further, fine ice can be made and collected from the inner wall of the ice-making chamber in a short time, and, thus, there is no need to form and grow an ice nucleus in the atmosphere. Therefore, this device can save space and can have a small size.

In the device for making fine ice containing salt according to the present disclosure, a fluid is supplied from an upper side and ice is made on the wall surface and falls to a lower side, and, thus, fine ice can be made and collected. Further, air flows from the side on which the fluid is supplied toward the side on which the ice is stored, which can make it easy to sequentially perform making and collecting fine ice. Therefore, this device can have a small size and can be driven efficiently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the detailed description that follows, embodiments are described as illustrations only since various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. The use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a fine ice-making device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a part of an ice-making unit illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a part of the ice-making unit illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a shaft guide illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the ice-making chamber illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a guide blade illustrated in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that the present disclosure may be readily implemented by those skilled in the art. However, it is to be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments but can be embodied in various other ways. In drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted for the simplicity of explanation, and like reference numerals denote like parts through the whole document.

Through the whole document, the term “connected to” or “coupled to” that is used to designate a connection or coupling of one element to another element includes both a case that an element is “directly connected or coupled to” another element and a case that an element is “electronically connected or coupled to” another element via still another element.

Through the whole document, the term “on” that is used to designate a position of one element with respect to another element includes both a case that the one element is adjacent to the another element and a case that any other element exists between these two elements.

Further, through the whole document, the term “comprises or includes” and/or “comprising or including” used in the document means that one or more other components, steps, operation and/or existence or addition of elements are not excluded in addition to the described components, steps, operation and/or elements unless context dictates otherwise.

A device for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure is configured to spray a salt-containing fluid into an ice-making chamber, scrape and collect ice made on a refrigerated inner wall of the ice-making chamber, and thus make and store fine ice.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a fine ice-making device according to the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a part of an ice-making unit illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a part of the ice-making unit illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a shaft guide illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the ice-making chamber illustrated in FIG. 2. Further, FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a guide blade illustrated in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, a device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure includes a water supply unit 100, an air supply unit 200, and an ice-making unit 300. The water supply unit 100 may generate or store a fluid having a predetermined salinity and a predetermined temperature. The air supply unit 200 is configured to receive the fluid from the water supply unit 100 and spray the fluid into the ice-making unit 300 to form a proper flow in the ice-making unit 300. The ice-making unit 300 is configured to refrigerate the sprayed fluid to make fine ice.

Specifically, the water supply unit 100 may include a water supply tank 110 and a salt supply unit 120. The water supply tank 110 may store a fluid, i.e., water, supplied from the outside. The salt supply unit 120 may be configured to accommodate salt supplied from the outside and supply the salt to the water supply tank 110. The amount of salt supplied from the salt supply unit 120 to the water supply tank 110 may be variably regulated depending on the salinity of a fluid in the water supply tank 110. Since salt is supplied to the water supply tank 110 by the salt supply unit 120, a fluid containing salt, e.g., salt water can be stored in the water supply tank 110.

Further, the water supply unit 100 may further include a fluid supply path 130 and a pump 140. The fluid supply path 130 may be configured to connect the water supply tank 110 and a spray nozzle 210 to be described later. The fluid supply path 130 may be configured as a pipe connecting from a lower part of the water supply tank 110 to an upper part of the ice-making unit 300. The pump 140 may be provided in the fluid supply path 130 to supply the fluid in the water supply tank 110 to the spray nozzle 210.

Further, the water supply unit 100 according to the present disclosure may further include a temperature control unit. The temperature control unit may include a temperature sensor and a heater and operate to maintain the temperature within the water supply tank 110 at a predetermined level or within a predetermined range.

Meanwhile, the air supply unit 200 includes the spray nozzle 210. The spray nozzle 210 may atomize the salt-containing fluid supplied from the water supply unit 100 and then supply the atomized salt-containing fluid to the ice-making unit 300. The spray nozzle 210 may be provided in an ice-making chamber 310 to be described later and configured to mix air having a predetermined pressure with the salt-containing fluid and spray the mixture into the ice-making chamber 310. The structure and function of the air supply unit 200 including the spray nozzle 210 will be described in detail below.

The ice-making unit 300 may be configured to receive the salt-containing fluid from the spray nozzle 210 and make fine ice. The ice-making unit 300 according to the present disclosure may include the ice-making chamber 310, a freezer 320, and a scraper 330.

The ice-making chamber 310 may be configured as a cylindrical container, and the spray nozzle 210 may be provided in the ice-making chamber 310. The salt-containing fluid may be sprayed from the spray nozzle 210 and supplied into an inner space of the ice-making chamber 310.

In the present disclosure, an inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 may be refrigerated and the sprayed fluid may be brought into contact with the inner wall 311 and then refrigerated into ice. The freezer 320 for refrigerating the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 may be configured as a refrigeration cycle device that circulates a refrigerant. For example, the freezer 320 may include a refrigerant compressor, a condenser, and an expansion valve, and the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve may exchange heat with the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 and then may be collected in the freezer 320.

The scraper 330 may be located within the ice-making chamber 310 and configured to scrape ice made on the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310. The salt-containing fluid may be brought into the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 and may form an ice nucleus in a short time and thus may be frozen into fine ice. The scraper 330 can collect fine ice by continuously scraping ice made on the inner wall 311 before the ice grows bigger than necessary. Salt adheres to ice while fine ice is made and collected. Thus, salt-containing fine ice can be made.

Meanwhile, in order for the scraper 330 to easily scrape ice, the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 may be mirror-finished or coated with a water-repellent resin.

The device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure can make fine ice containing salt and having uniform size. The fine ice made according to the present disclosure is suitable for pre-chilling seafood and particularly can suppress physical damage and decay of the seafood.

Further, according to the present disclosure, fine ice can be made and collected from the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 in a short time, and, thus, there is no need to form and grow an ice nucleus in the atmosphere. Therefore, the device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure can save space and can have a small size. Accordingly, the device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure is suitable to be provided and used in a small and medium fishing vessel.

Hereinafter, the ice-making unit 300 according to the present disclosure will be described in more detail.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, the ice-making chamber 310 may further include a refrigerant accommodation portion 313 between the inner wall 311 and an outer wall 312 surrounding the inner wall 311 for heat exchange of the refrigerant supplied by the freezer 320. The refrigerant accommodation portion 313 may be supplied with a low-temperature refrigerant from the freezer 320 and the refrigerant circulating within the refrigerant accommodation portion 313 may be collected in the freezer 320.

The ice-making chamber 310 may further include multiple fins 314 that protrude in a direction from the inner wall 311 toward the outer wall 312. The multiple fins 314 located within the refrigerant accommodation portion 313 may increase the contact area between the refrigerant and the inner wall 311 and thus accelerate heat exchange.

The ice-making chamber 310 may further include a refrigeration temperature sensor 315. As illustrated in the drawings, the refrigeration temperature sensor 315 is provided in the ice-making chamber 310 and configured to sense the temperature of the inner wall 311. The freezer 320 according to the present disclosure may be controlled depending on a value sensed by the refrigeration temperature sensor 315 and can maintain the temperature of the inner wall 311 at a suitable level (e.g., −30° C.) to make salt-containing ice.

Meanwhile, the scraper 330 may include a shaft 331, a driving portion 332, and a scraping blade 333 to continuously collect ice. The shaft 331 may be located within the ice-making chamber 310 and may be arranged in parallel with a central axis of the cylindrical ice-making chamber 310 as illustrated in the drawings. Further, the driving portion 332 may be connected to the shaft 331 to rotate the shaft 331. The driving portion 332 may be driven by supplying electric power or transferring external power thereto.

The scraping blade 333 may be rotated as connected to the shaft 331 within the ice-making chamber 310. The scraping blade 333 may be extended from the shaft 331 toward the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310 and may rotate to scrape ice from the inner wall 311. Further, the scraping blade 333 may be rotated to form a circumferential flow within the ice-making chamber 310 in order to guide the fluid supplied from the spray nozzle 210 toward the inner wall 311 of the ice-making chamber 310.

In the device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure, the shaft 331 and the ice-making chamber 310 may be arranged to be extended in a longitudinal direction (e.g., direction perpendicular to the ground). Further, the spray nozzle 210 may be provided on an upper end of the ice-making chamber 310. As shown in FIG. 2, an upper part of the ice-making chamber 310 may be combined with a nozzle housing 340 where the spray nozzle 210 is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, a shaft guide 350 configured to rotatably support an upper end of the shaft 331 may be provided in the ice-making chamber 310. The shaft guide 350 may include a bush 351 configured to an outer peripheral surface of the shaft 331, multiple legs 352 extended in a radial direction from the bush 351 to be connected to and supported by the ice-making chamber 310, and a gap 353 configured to cover an upper part of the bush 351.

If the scraping blade 333 rotated with the shaft 331 extended in the longitudinal direction scrapes ice from the inner peripheral surface (inner wall 311) of the ice-making chamber 310, fine ice separated from the inner wall 311 may fall to the lower side of the ice-making chamber 310 by gravity. Further, the fine ice may adhere to the fluid in the inner space of the ice-making chamber 310 and thus may be collected in the form of lumps.

Meanwhile, the ice-making unit 300 may further include an ice storage chamber communicating with the ice-making chamber 310. The ice storage chamber 360 may accommodate fine ice separated and collected from the inner wall 311 by the scraper 330. The ice storage chamber 360 may include a door through which fine ice can be dispensed.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the ice storage chamber 360 may include a guide portion 361 and a storage space 362. One end of the guide portion 361 may be connected to a lower end of the ice-making chamber 310 to communicate with the ice-making chamber 310. Further, the guide portion 361 may be extended in a direction slanted with respect to the longitudinal direction in which the ice-making chamber 310 is extended. The ice collected on the bottom of the ice-making chamber 310 may be transferred through the slanted guide portion 361.

The other end of the guide portion 361 may communicate with the storage space 362. The storage space 362 is located lower than the ice-making chamber 310 and thus may be stocked with the fine ice transferred through the guide portion 361.

As described above, a fluid is supplied from the spray nozzle 210 located longitudinally above the ice-making chamber 310, fine ice is made in the ice-making chamber 310 and then falls and is collected in the ice-making chamber 310, and the fine ice is stored in the ice storage chamber 360 connected under the ice-making chamber 310. In the array according to the present disclosure, fine ice can be continuously made and accumulated in a narrow space. Therefore, it is possible to greatly save space and energy required for making and storing fine ice.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, the scraper 330 may further include a guide blade 334 configured to help the guide portion 361 transfer ice. The longitudinally arranged shaft 331 of the scraper 330 may be extended from a lower part of the ice-making chamber 310 to the inside of the guide portion 361. In this case, the guide blade 334 rotated as connected to the shaft 331 may be provided where the shaft 331 is in contact with a slanted inner surface of the guide portion 361.

The guide blade 334 may rotate around the shaft 331 while sweeping the slanted inner surface of the guide portion 361. The guide blade 334 may have various angles to the shaft 331 in a predetermined range to be rotated in contact with the slanted inner surface. The fine ice can be smoothly transferred by the guide blade 334 into the storage space 362 through the guide portion 361.

Hereinafter, the air supply unit 200 of the device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure will be described in detail. The air supply unit 200 may also perform a function to form an air flow within the ice-making chamber 310 in addition to the above-described function to spray the salt-containing fluid.

Referring to FIG. 1, the air supply unit 200 may further include a compressed air flow path 220 and an air compressor 230. Both ends of the compressed air flow path 220 may communicate with the ice storage chamber 360 and the spray nozzle 210, respectively. Further, the air compressor 230 may be provided in the compressed air flow path 220 and driven to collect air from the ice storage chamber 360 and compress the air and then discharge the compressed air toward the spray nozzle 210.

Further, the air supply unit 200 may further include a circulation air flow path 240 and an air blower 250. Both ends of the circulation air flow path 240 may communicate with the ice storage chamber 360 and the ice-making chamber 310, respectively. More specifically, one end of the circulation air flow path 240 may communicate with the storage space 362 and the other end may communicate with the upper part of the ice-making chamber 310. The air blower 250 may be provided in the circulation air flow path 240 and configured to form an air flow from the air storage chamber 360 (more specifically, the storage space 362) toward the ice-making chamber 310.

Since the ice-making chamber 310 is arranged in the longitudinal direction and an air flow is formed by the air supply unit 200 from an upper side toward a lower side within the air-making chamber 310, a process of continuously making and collecting fine ice can be performed efficiently. Therefore, the advantage of the device 10 for making fine ice with salinity according to the present disclosure for miniaturization can be further maximized.

Meanwhile, the ice storage chamber 360 may further include a filter unit 363 located in a path where air is discharged to the compressed air flow path 220 or the circulation air flow path 240. As shown in FIG. 1, the filter unit 363 is provided within the storage space 362 to partition the storage space 362 into a space where the compressed air flow path 220 and the circulation air flow path 240 communicate with each other and a space where fine ice is stored. The filter unit 363 may be configured in the form of mesh. Thus, air may pass through the filter unit 363 but fine ice may be restricted not to pass through the filter unit 363. Since the filter unit 363 is further provided, it is possible to suppress mixing of foreign substances or fine ice into the compressed air flow path 220 and the circulation air flow path 240 of the air supply unit 200.

The above description of the present disclosure is provided for the purpose of illustration, and it would be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without changing technical conception and essential features of the present disclosure. Thus, it is clear that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and do not limit the present disclosure. For example, each component described to be of a single type can be implemented in a distributed manner. Likewise, components described to be distributed can be implemented in a combined manner.

The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the following claims rather than by the detailed description of the embodiment. It shall be understood that all modifications and embodiments conceived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are included in the scope of the present disclosure. 

We claim:
 1. A device for making fine ice with salinity, comprising: a water supply unit configured to supply a salt-containing fluid; an air supply unit including a spray nozzle configured to spray the fluid supplied from the water supply unit; and an ice-making unit configured to refrigerate the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle and make salt-containing fine ice, wherein the ice-making unit includes: an ice-making chamber whose inner wall to be in contact with the fluid sprayed from the spray nozzle is configured to be refrigerated; and a scraper configured to scrape ice made on the inner wall of the ice-making chamber.
 2. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 1, wherein the ice-making chamber includes a refrigerant accommodation portion between the inner wall and an outer wall surrounding the inner wall.
 3. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 2, wherein the ice-making chamber includes multiple fins that protrude in a direction from the inner wall toward the outer wall.
 4. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 2, wherein the ice-making unit further includes a freezer configured to circulate a refrigerant through the refrigerant accommodation portion.
 5. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 1, wherein the scraper includes: a shaft that is located within the ice-making chamber; a driving portion that is connected to the shaft to drive the shaft; and a scraping blade that is rotated as connected to the shaft within the ice-making chamber and rotates to scrape the ice made on the inner wall of the ice-making chamber.
 6. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 5, wherein the ice-making chamber is arranged in parallel with the shaft to be extended in a longitudinal direction and has a cylindrical shape whose upper end is equipped with the spray nozzle, and the scraping blade rotates to scrape the ice made on the inner peripheral surface of the ice-making chamber.
 7. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 1, wherein the ice-making unit further includes an ice storage chamber that communicates with the ice-making chamber to accommodate ice separated from the inner wall of the ice-making chamber by the scraper.
 8. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 7, wherein the ice storage chamber includes: a guide portion of which one end communicates with a lower end of the ice-making chamber and which is extended in a direction slanted with respect to the longitudinal direction in which the ice-making chamber is extended; and a storage space that communicates with the other end of the guide portion.
 9. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 8, wherein the scraper includes a guide blade configured to sweep a slanted inner surface of the guide portion.
 10. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 7, wherein the air supply unit further includes: a circulation air flow path whose both ends communicate with the ice storage chamber and the ice-making chamber, respectively; and an air blower that is provided in the circulation air flow path and driven to form an air flow from the air storage chamber toward the ice-making chamber in the circulation air flow path.
 11. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 7, wherein the air supply unit further includes: a compressed air flow path whose both ends communicate with the ice storage chamber and the spray nozzle, respectively; and an air compressor provided in the compressed air flow path and driven to collect air from the ice storage chamber and compress the air and then discharge the compressed air toward the spray nozzle.
 12. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the ice storage chamber includes a filter unit configured in the form of mesh to cover a path where air is discharged.
 13. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the spray nozzle is provided on an upper end of the ice-making chamber and the ice storage chamber is connected to a lower end of the ice-making chamber to help ice and a fluid flow from an upper side toward a lower side within the ice-making chamber.
 14. The device for making fine ice with salinity of claim 1, wherein the water supply unit includes: a water supply tank configured to accommodate the salt-containing fluid; a salt supply unit configured to accommodate salt to be supplied to the water supply tank; a fluid supply path configured to connect the water supply tank with the spray nozzle; and a pump that is provided in the fluid supply path and driven to supply the fluid in the water supply tank to the spray nozzle. 